


Over

by Styx_and_stones



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Anxiety, Apocalypse world, Gen, Grief/Mourning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-19
Updated: 2019-01-19
Packaged: 2019-10-12 20:49:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17474759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Styx_and_stones/pseuds/Styx_and_stones
Summary: In Apocalypse World, the alternate Gabriel visits the remains of his brother and thinks about his wish for the fighting to be over.Occurs in Apocalypse World shortly after Alternate Lucifer's defeat.





	Over

"I just wanted it to be over." Gabriel stared down where his wayward older brother's wings had burned into the ground outside Abilene.

_Is it really over though?_

It certainly didn't feel over. Michael's armies still patrolled the Earth, trying to create order out of the inherent entropy. Gabriel wasn't there for the prizefight, but it was impossible not to hear the news: The Morningstar had fallen. The scared archangel didn't cry - couldn't cry – even though he wanted to.

Ever since the Cage had been opened, he sometimes felt the lightest breeze behind him. Tension would surge through him every time he expected to see his older brother there. Either of them finding him would mean that the jig was up.

“Join me, Gabriel, my brother,” he would say. Michael would offer a world of control (all for the glory of good old Dad), and Lucifer would tout his restoration of Dad's world to its former beauty, free of humanity's stains. Guilt over the absent sibling would well up inside of him, just like it did before he left Heaven, but also fear. What wouldn’t be spoken was the threat of imprisonment if he refused, and even he couldn’t Shawshank his way out of a prison in Heaven or Hell.

But every time he turned around there was nothing behind him. _Pathetic, looking over my shoulder constantly._ Gabriel had come here to prove one of those situations was now impossible.

_My brother is gone. Forever._ Gabriel reminded himself. He thought that if he saw it was over, he would feel relieved. Instead, the anxiety doubled.

He had done nothing about it, but what _could_ he do? He could never be as powerful as any of his older brothers, no one was. It took all of his skill to avoid choosing sides, what more did he have to give? Once Michael discovered that he was palling around with pagan gods and their kids, they would be the next target. Gabriel had barely gotten Kali away from Lucifer, but Michael would never give him a chance for a rescue. Unlike Lucifer, Michael knew when not to wax poetic.

_I_ _f not now, when will it be over?_ Gabriel might not be in between the two pains-in-his-ass anymore, but being in between Michael and his pagan family wasn't the alternative he had in mind. He wished he could forcibly whisk Kali away from this collapsing marble. Despite offering many times, she refused to ‘flee’ like he suggested.

"Be careful, friend. Your loyalties are in a precarious position at this place."  
The familiar voice snapped up Gabriel attention to see a well-dressed man, the man whose face he shared.

"Loki, friend,” Gabriel relaxed his demeanor. “Of course I’d come to see the skid marks for myself. Half of the household’s beat me to it; why take your floodlight to me when Sleipnir and Odin have already--"

"You. Know. Why."

Gabriel dropped his façade "My loyalties haven’t changed. I'm just making the same nosey pilgrimage like everyone else." It wasn’t untrue, but it didn’t make him feel any better to be reminded of his outsider status.

"Good." Loki took a few seconds to stare at Lucifer's remains, and Gabriel returned to taking the scene in. Lucifer's vessel was long gone, not that that vessel had anything to do with his brother. What remained was the faintest trace of chilling grace echoing from the ground. Gabriel wished it still comforted him as much as it had before the Fall.

"Come, we have some of our own affairs to discuss.” Loki began walking away knowing that Gabriel would follow rather than suffering the consequences of lingering.

Gabe looked back one more time before walking away as well. _What had I expected? For my brothers to kiss and make up? That Dad would come back as soon as the four of us sang Kumbaya together? Maybe that Dad Himself would return to stop the fighting?_ From those expectations, he felt childish.

When Michael found him now, Gabriel wouldn’t be offered a spot back like some prodigal son, he would be punished. There’s no place far enough for him to run that Michael couldn’t eventually catch up to him.

  
Gabriel blinked and unexpected tears ran across his face.

_It’s never going to be over._

**Author's Note:**

> First time actually posting any writing online. Feedback on the writing or how it was posted is appreciated (be polite).


End file.
